A Cold Reception
by PriestessAmy
Summary: Brigitte is excited to join Overwatch for plenty of reasons. Chief among them, a chance to meet famous gamer Hana Song. But it turns out the feeling isn't mutual. Or maybe it is? Girls are confusing.


Brigitte could not be more embarrassed at the moment. Why her father and uncle decided to give her a formal introduction to Overwatch was something of a mystery. Half of these people had known her since she was a little child, putting armor on her stuffed animals and pets for fun. Ana and her daughter, Dr. Zeigler, Winston, Lena; even those she had never met she had heard more than a few stories about the daughter of Torbjorn. Really, there was only one thing that managed to make this both more _and_ less stressful – Hana Song.

Brigitte knew her name well, but not from stories or childhood meetings. She had followed the notorious ' ' from her beginnings as a competitive gamer to her career as a warrior for her people. She was fearsome, unstoppable, and even prettier in person. As her welcoming party at Overwatch's new headquarters began to wind down, she did her best to casually sidle up to the girl at the table laden with far too much food. "Hello, Hana. It's a pleasure to meet you." Agh, what a horrible first line to give someone.

"Save it," she said coolly as she layered some food onto her plate."Nepotism seems to be the order of the day here lately and it's making me nervous. All that work I put in to get where I am, but people like you and Fareeha can just join because you're legacies. Show me you're actually capable and maybe I'll consider you an actual agent."

Brigitte fumbled her plate, nearly dropping everything she was holding across the tablecloth. Sure, when it came to her old career, had a reputation for being pretty harsh. But this was entirely unexpected. "What? Hana, papa didn't even want me to join in the first place. I trained under Reinhardt for years as his squire. I'm not just some... privileged princess!"

It looked like the younger woman was gearing up to say more when the alarms went off, and Winston hurried over to a nearby console, hammering away at the keys. "Rgh, Talon. It's always Talon. They're bringing their A-game this time with an all-star roster. And... one nasty payload. Tracer, you're taking point. Mei, Pharah, Mercy, , and Brigitte, you're going with her. Stay on your toes, they've brought along some mercenary assistance for this one."

Brigitte and Hana looked at one another for a moment before running off to get geared up. _Never meet your heroes, Brigitte. You'll always get let down._

* * *

"I honestly don't get it. The rule is pretty simple. If the enemy has a payload, you stay on top of it and keep it from moving. Why does no one get that?" was mostly muttering to herself as she stood astride the payload in her mech, firing at anyone who got close. Even if she was being something of a... rude person about it, Brigitte had to admit she had a point. Pharah had almost instantly gone flying off with Mercy literally in tow. Tracer was zipping here and there, pestering whoever she could. Even Mei was some distance off, putting up huge barriers of ice to keep the enemy at bay.

Only the two junior members remained steadfastly holding the hovering machine from moving any further. Granted, all of the Talon agents were just as distant. Sombra, Widowmaker, Moira, Reaper, they were all off squaring up against Overwatch. The groups were pretty evenly matched. Not that she was having an easy time. The mercenaries they'd hired turned out to be notorious madcaps Junkrat and Roadhog.

"Why the hell are they even here? Shouldn't they be... riding eternal on the fury road or whatever? Nope, instead they're here, making our lives difficult."

The only good thing was that Brigitte was too busy defending to focus on the fact that Hana was kind of an aggravating person. She casually backhanded an incoming grenade away before taking a full shotgun blast to her shield, sliding back a good foot or so. Not wishing to further the negative attitude of the moment, she tuned into the local voicechat. "We've got Junkers at the payload. Repeat, we have Junkers at the payload. Requesting backup." The scrawny one got close and she attempted to swing at him, but he propelled himself away using one of his own mines, the maniac.

"Sorry, luv, bit pinned down at the moment by the hacker."

"We'll be there as soon as we can, but Moira and Amelie have been improving their teamwork."

Mei buzzed in, though her voice sounded strange. "Ah, I am... rather encased in ice at the moment. Reaper was attempting his spinning death whirl. S-Sorry!"

A massive hook suddenly jammed itself into the metal of 's mech, hauling her off the payload. Just as Brigitte was about to jump to her aid, she saw her nimbly backflip through the rear exit. "Nerf this, Master Blaster!" She landed with all the skill and style of a gymnast, firing off a volley from her light gun as the mech exploded violently. Still, until she could get another mech onto the battlefield, she was completely exposed. So Brigitte put herself between the girl and the chaos. "I don't need your help, Lindholm!"

"Well, unfortunately you have it." That might have been more impressive if another grenade didn't manage to knock out the power to her shield.

The last thing she heard was "fire in the hole!" before a hideous... tire... thing came rolling straight for her. Not thinking, she ran out to meet it, diving on top of it. That was when everything went black.

* * *

Consciousness returned slowly. Angela was hovering over her, the last few sparkles of healing energy floating away. Surprisingly, off to the other side was Hana, looking at her with some combination of worry and guilty. "Ah, there we are. You see, . It is as I always say-"

"Yeah, heroes never die. I know." She actually glared at the blonde before looking back down at her, beginning to smile. "You get used to the catch phrases around here, I promise. Um, anyway... so... thanks. For... not listening to me."

Brigitte laughed, which hurt, and she quickly bit it back. "Just ask papa and uncle. I never listen. It is just one of my many, many flaws." Very carefully, she pushed herself up to a seated position, looking around. "Did we win?"

"Insofar as we can ever consider what we do 'winning'..." Mused Pharah cryptically. "The payload is still active. Perhaps our engineer might take a look at it. When she is feeling well enough." The seriousness actually broke as she began to smile. "Hana told us what you did. Sounds like you're right where you belong."

Once her head was no longer swimming, Brigitte turned her full attention on shutting down the payload. It helped to keep her from focusing too much on the feeling of victory she got from making her fellow agents smile like that. One in particular, admittedly.

* * *

That was the end of things, at least for a short while. Life finally quieted back down, even if only a little. Still, after her first fight against such a strong enemy, Brigitte found sleep difficult. So she ended up in the headquarters kitchen working on a sandwich in that curious state of half-sleep anxiety.

The sound of soft footsteps from the nearby hallway caught her attention, and she briefly glanced over to see Hana approaching. Her head whipped back around and she put all of her attention on arranging the materials into a late-night meal, hoping that she was merely walking past. But of course it was not so easy. Instead she went for the fridge, retrieving one of her large stash of energy drinks, then grabbing a bag of chips from the cupboard next to her. Casually as can be, Hana hopped up onto the counter, cracking open her drink and taking a long sip from it.

"You're going to be up forever if you have one of those at this hour..." she muttered, immediately regretting her tone. "...I hope I proved myself today."

She didn't answer right away, instead shoving a handful of chips into her mouth. "I mean, duh. Not everyday someone heroically throws themself on a giant explosive to protect you. If it hadn't been for you, I might not have been able to keep the point until the others arrived." Before Brigitte could reply, she sat up just a bit, glaring at her. "That being said, it was an incredibly stupid thing to do! Amateur, frankly. So just... think next time. We don't need our people getting hurt."

Unlike before, Brigitte found Hana's prickliness almost endearing. She could just barely make out the legitimate concern hidden underneath. She giggled as she planted the second piece of bread on her sandwich and took a bite. "I'll remember that. I would hate to disappoint my hero." _Fan_! She was so tired, she foolishly let that slip out.

Hana sat there staring at her before quickly bringing the can to her lips to take a long drink. "What, so you... did some research on me and thought that might help butter me up?"

"Oh! N-No, I remember following your career quite intently. Papa never really understood why I was so excited watching someone else play a video game. But I suppose... I admired a fellow girl who excelled so impressively in a world dominated by boys. Even when you moved on and started piloting mechs, I kept a close eye on your exploits." Before she knew it, everything was starting to come out, and Brigitte was certain that would grow angry with her for being such a fangirl.

Hana took another huge handful of chips, shoved them all into her mouth, then balled up the empty bag and skillfully swished it into the nearby bin. Still chewing her way through them, she hopped down from the counter with a strange glance. "Probably gonna be up for a few hours. Just playing games and stuff. In my dorm. If you... wanted to hang out."

"...o-okay..."

* * *

Brigitte was never so glad to get absolutely stomped in a video game before. Clearly, her teammate's skills hadn't dulled any since her career change. No matter how many times she parried or pulled off a good combo, Hana had some ridiculous counter-move to fight it. Still, at some point you could only get beaten up so much before you had to call it a night. She set aside the controller and lay back, stretching her torso across part of Hana's bed. "This was fun."

"It was fun to get totally wrecked? You have a strange idea of fun, Lindholm." Hana turned off the console then glanced back at her. "Um, but if you really wanna play more, that'd be... cool." The room lapsed into a light silence as Hana pushed back to lean up against the wall. "You know, I didn't exactly follow you or anything. But I heard a lot of stories from the guys, and Torb will show pictures of his kids at the drop of a hat. I was... perhaps... just a little bit excited to meet you. And when you said hello to me, I panicked. Sometimes it's easier for me to lapse into the... the facade. The mask, you know?"

Sitting up, Brigitte carefully shuffled back so that she was sitting next to Hana, trying her hardest to keep her face from showing her utter delight. "Thank goodness. I really was worried for a while there."

"Y-You shouldn't be too relieved. If I hadn't been such a massive jerk to you, you might not have sacrificed yourself to prove that you're the real deal."

Brigitte began to laugh, clapping her warmly on the shoulder. "I would have done it regardless. It's in my nature to be a bit self-sacrificing. Still, it is more comforting to know we both have each other's backs, that it is not merely a one-way street."

Rather than looking directly at her, Hana's eyes looked more at where her hand was resting, her cheeks going slightly pink. "W-Well! Of course! Us kids gotta look out for one another."

Uncertain where to take the conversation, Brigitte decided to take a chance. "Would you like to see a picture of my cat?" she asked softly as she reached for her phone.

Hana gasped, her face brightening up instantly. "You have a kitty!? Show me! Show me show me!"

It was only a few pictures later that she suddenly became aware of a gentle pressure on her shoulder. Despite her excitement, Hana was definitely falling asleep. Her face plastered with a goofy smile, Brigitte gently lay her down and slipped the blankets over her. Just as she turned to leave, a pair of dainty hands clamped around her wrist like a vice.

"Wait..."

Brigitte's laugh was soft and gentle as she turned back toward her. "I live down the hall, Hana, you will doubtless see me tomorrow."

Huffing and pouting, Hana started to push herself up, but Brigitte was quick to guide her to lay back down. "Overwatch buys crappy pillows and your big dumb muscles are... like... really comfortable. Please?"

Holy goodness, both of their faces were intensely red at that moment. But what kind of monster could deny such a request? So, she climbed underneath the covers next to her, and Hana immediately latched onto her. She buried her face against her chest, nuzzling slowly. "Much better... Mmm, night..."

For a while, she could only stare at the wall in disbelief as the girl in her arms fell quickly into a deep sleep. _Papa is going to kill me._


End file.
